Former Houston police officer accused of killing surgeon

UPDATE : A spokesman for the Houston Police Department said that Dennis Roy Redding resigned from HPD in 1978 after serving eight years as an officer. His resignation, the spokesman said, was not the result of an Internal Affairs Investigation.

Earlier: A Webster oral surgeon is dead and a retired police officer is charged after a scuffle during a party where the two were trying to patch up their friendship, the Galveston County Daily News reports.

Dr. Mark K. Holcomb, 61, was shot in the stomach about 12:30 a.m. Saturday in the Haborwalk gated community in Hitchcock, the newspaper reported.

Now, former HPD officer Dennis Roy Redding, 63, of Cedar Creek, is charged in his death, marking the first murder charge in Hitchcock since 2010, the Daily News reported.

Hitchcock Police Chief Clay Kennelly told the newspaper that the two men were trying to mend their friendship after a falling out.

The two men were part of a small gathering of people at the Harborwalk house when they got into a disagreement. Kennelly said his department’s initial investigation indicates that Redding walked out of the living room and grabbed .380-caliber pistol from his luggage, returned to the living room and shot Holcomb.

“Apparently, these two had been friends but had a falling out,” Kennelly said. “This weekend was supposed to be a way for them to get together and rekindle that friendship. They were supposed to be out fishing (Saturday).”

Redding was released on Saturday after posting $150,000 bail, according to an official at the Galveston County Jail.